Photomask blank, process for production of photomask, and chromium-containing material film

ABSTRACT

In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, an element is added thereto and is capable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower. The use of such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film (e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etching stopper film) of a photo mask blank can achieve an improvement in chlorine-dry etching while retaining the same optical characteristics and the like as those of the conventional chromium-containing material film, thereby increasing the patterning precision.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a technique for manufacturing a photomask. More specifically, the present invention relates to a photo maskblank used in production of a photo mask to be employed formicrofabrication of an integrated circuit, a CCD (charge-coupled device)color filter, a LCD (liquid crystal display) color filter, a magnetichead, or the like, and to a chromium-containing material film serving asa structural component thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

A microfabrication technique is a very important basic technique in thefield of semiconductor technology, and the research and developmentthereof have been progressed for further finer microfabrication. Inrecent years, in particular, the degree of request for microfabricationtechnique is becoming more than ever with respect to the highintegration of a large scale integration circuit because of finercircuit patterns and finer wiring a pattern, a finer pattern of contactholes for interlayer wiring of a cell, and the like.

In view of such a circumstance, in the field of a photo mask productiontechnique used in a photolithography step in the microfabrication asdescribed above, a technique for writing a fine and correct circuitpattern (mask pattern) also becomes being demanded in the field of aphoto mask production technique.

In order to form a highly precise mask pattern, it is required to form ahighly precise resist pattern on a photo mask blank. Generally,reduction projection is performed when forming a pattern on asemiconductor substrate by photolithographic technique. The size of thepattern formed on the photo mask is therefore approximately four timeslarger than the side of the pattern formed on the semiconductorsubstrate. However, this does not mean that the desired precision of thepattern formed on the photo mask is smaller than the pattern formed onthe semiconductor substrate. Rather, the precision of a pattern formedon the photo mask as a master disc is desired to be more than an actualpattern obtained after exposure.

In today's photolithography technical field, the size of a circuitpattern to be drawn is considerably smaller than the wavelength of lightto be used for exposure. Thus, in the case of forming a photo maskpattern with a just four-times larger circuit pattern, lightinterference or the like, which is generated under exposure, influenceson transfer of an original shape. As a result, the original shape cannotbe transferred onto the resist film of a photo mask blank.

In order to reduce such influence, therefore, it may be necessary toprocess a photo mask pattern into a shape more complicated than theactual circuit pattern. The shape may be, for example, a shape subjectedto optical proximity correction (OPC).

Accordingly, a more precision processing technique has been also desiredin a lithographic technique for forming a photo mask pattern. In somecases, lithography performance is expressed in resolution limit. Asdescribed above, however, a pattern formed on a photo mask as a masterdisc desires more precision than an actual pattern formed afterexposure. Thus, resolution limit required for formation of a photo maskpattern is almost equal to or more than one required in lithography forforming a pattern on a semiconductor base.

In general, when forming a photo mask pattern, a resist film is formedon the surface of the photo mask blank in which a light-shielding filmis mounted on a transparent substrate, and a pattern is then drawn(exposed) on the resist film by an electron beam. Subsequently, afterobtaining a rest pattern after developing the exposed resist film, thelight-shielding film is etched by using this resist pattern as a mask toobtain a light-shielding (film) pattern. The light-shielding (film)pattern thus obtained is served as a photo mask pattern.

In this case, the above resist film should be thinned depending on thedegree of fineness of the light-shielding pattern. This is because, whenforming a fine light-shielding pattern while keeping the thickness ofthe resist film, the ratio (aspect ratio) of the thickness of the resistfilm to the size of the light-shielding pattern becomes large and causestroubles of unsatisfied pattern transfer due to degraded shape of theresist pattern, collapse or peel of the resist pattern, or the like.

As a material of the light-shielding film mounted on the transparentsubstrate, many kinds of materials have so far been proposed. Amongthem, however, a chromium compound has been practically used because ofmuch know-how on etching, for example.

Dry etching of a chromium-containing material film is generallyperformed by chlorine-containing dry etching. In many cases, however,chlorine-containing dry etching has a certain level of ability to etchan organic layer. In the case that a resist pattern for etching alight-shielding film is formed on a thin resist film, therefore, theresist pattern is etched too much to ignore by chlorine-containing dryetching. As a result, the proper resist pattern cannot be correctlytransferred to the light-shielding film.

Hence, a resist material having excellent etching resistance has beenrequested. In practice, however, such a resist material has not beenknown yet. For this reason, to obtain a light-shielding (film) patternhaving high resolution property, a light-shielding film material havingmore processing accuracy has been reexamined.

As a specific effort to reexamine the light-shielding film materialhaving more processing accuracy, there is reported an attempt toincrease the etching rate of a light-shielding film by allowing achromium compound serving as a light-shielding film material to containonly a predetermined amount of a light element (see, for example, PatentLiterature 1 and Patent Literature 2).

Patent Literature 1 (WO 2007/74806 A) discloses a technique that uses amaterial mainly containing chromium (Cr) and nitrogen (N) and having anX-ray diffraction peak of substantially CrN (200) as a light-shieldingfilm material to suppress a decrease in thickness of a resist film byincreasing the dry etching rate of the light-shielding film.

Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 (JP 2007-33470 A) discloses theinvention of a photo mask blank where the composition of alight-shielding film formed of a chromium-containing compound is maderich in light element and low in chromium composition as compared withthe composition of the conventional film so that the composition, filmthickness, and laminated structure of the photo mask blank can besuitably designed to obtain desired transmittance T and reflectance Rwhile trying to increase the dry etching rate of the light-shieldingfilm.

CITATION LIST Patent Literatures

-   Patent Literature 1: WO 2007/74806 A-   Patent Literature 2: JP 2007-33470 A-   Patent Literature 3: JP 2005-200682 A-   Patent Literature 4: JP 08-292549 A-   Patent Literature 5: JP 07-140635 A-   Patent Literature 6: JP 2007-241060 A-   Patent Literature 7: JP 2007-241065 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Technical Program

However, the technique as described above, where a light element isadded to a chromium-containing compound to suppress a decrease inthickness of a resist film by increasing the dry-etching rate of alight-shielding film, has the following disadvantage:

When using a chromium-containing compound as a light-shielding film, thelight-shielding film is demanded not only to ensure its improved etchingrate but also to ensure predetermined optical characteristics becausethe light-shielding film is also served as an optical film. Theflexibility of the film design enough to simultaneously satisfy bothdemands is not always high.

Even in the case of using a chromium-containing compound as a filmmaterial for forming an etching mask for processing a light-shieldingfilm but not as a light-shielding film material, a range of amount of alight element which can be added is naturally limited to ensure thefunctional aspect of the chromium-containing compound. Thus, theflexibility of a film design is not always high.

From these facts, it is desired to provide a technique for improving theetching rate of a film made of a chromium-based material by an approachwhich is different from the conventional approach of light-elementaddition.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the aboveproblem and its object resides in providing a novel technique that canincrease a dry-etching rate of a film made of a chromium-containingmaterial while assuring the design flexibility thereof.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above problem, a photo mask blank according to afirst aspect of the present invention includes a chromium-containingmaterial film that contains chromium as a metal element, where thechromium-containing material film is added with an element that iscapable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into aliquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower.

Preferably, the chromium-containing material film has a region in athickness direction thereof to which the element is added at aconcentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20 atomic %.

Preferably, furthermore, the region in the thickness direction has athickness of 50% or more of the total film thickness of thechromium-containing material film.

The element added is indium or tin, for example.

Furthermore, the chromium-containing material is, for example, any oneof a chromium metal, a chromium oxide, a chromium nitride, a chromiumcarbide, a chromium oxynitride, a chromium oxycarbide, a chromiumcarbonitride, and a chromium oxycarbonitride.

The chromium-containing material film is, for example, any one of alight-shielding film, an etching mask film, and an etching stopper film.

The light-shielding layer may be configured to have a laminatedstructure of an antireflection layer and a light shielding layer. Atleast one of the antireflection layer and the light-shielding layer maybe configured to have an area to which an element is added at aconcentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20 atomic % and is capable of bringinga mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phase at atemperature of 400° C. or lower.

Preferably, the ratio (R_(Cl)/R_(F)) of a chlorine-containing dryetching rate (R_(Cl)) on the above chromium-containing material film anda fluorine-containing dry etching rate (R_(F)) is large compared with achromium-containing film to which the above element, which is broughtinto a liquid phase at 400° C. or lower, is not added.

The chromium-containing material film is formed by, for example,co-sputtering by which a chromium target and a target containing theelement are simultaneously sputtered.

A photo mask blank according to a second aspect of the present inventioninclude a chromium-containing material film, where thechromium-containing material film has a region in a thickness directionthereof containing tin at a concentration of 0.5 atomic % or more.

For instance, the aspect may be configured to include thechromium-containing material film as a light-shielding layer, where thelight-shielding film has a laminated structure of an antireflectionlayer and a light-shielding layer, and at least one of theantireflection layer and the light-shielding layer contains tin.

A method for manufacturing a photo mask according to the presentinvention is characterized by comprising a step of using the above photomask blank to pattern the chromium-containing material film with a gasmixture containing at least chlorine and oxygen.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, anelement is added thereto and is capable of bringing a mixture of theelement and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C.or lower. Comparing with the conventional chromium-containing metalfilm, therefore, an etching rate during the chlorine-containing dryetching simultaneously including chlorine and oxygen is improved.

The use of such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film(e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etchingstopper film) of a photo mask blank can achieve an improvement inchlorine-dry etching while retaining the same optical characteristicsand the like as those of the conventional chromium-containing materialfilm, thereby increasing the patterning precision.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating results of investigating distributionof indium in a chromium-containing material obtained from achromium-indium complex target by using electron spectroscopy forchemical analysis (ESCA).

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of adevice used for dry etching in examples.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to drawings.

Chromium-containing materials have been widely used as optical filmmaterials because of their comparatively good chemical stability.Furthermore, since chromium-containing materials have high resistance tofluorine-containing etching gas, such materials can be reliably used asmasks for patterning silicon-containing materials when thesilicon-containing materials are subjected to fluorine-containingdry-etching.

Here, examples of a chromium-containing material (base material) caninclude a chromium metal, chromium oxide, a chromium nitride, a chromiumcarbide, a chromium oxynitride, a chromium oxide carbide, a chromiumnitride carbide, and a chromium oxide nitride carbide. In the presentinvention, a chlorine-containing dry etching rate can be increased byincorporating an element into these base materials, where the element iscapable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into aliquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower.

However, the patterning of a chromium-containing material film isgenerally performed by chlorine-containing dry etching simultaneouslycontaining oxygen and chlorine. A resist for patterning is etched by thechlorine-containing dry etching to an unignorable extent, and as aresult it becomes difficult to carry out the patterning of thechromium-containing material film with high accuracy.

Incidentally, although the chromium-containing material film is formedby sputtering, a desirable chromium target to be used in film formationis of high purity. In general, this is due to the reasons of, forexample, an empirically known fact that a metal impurity in thechromium-containing material film leads to a decrease in etching rate ofthe film. Furthermore, JP 2005-200682 A (Patent Literature 3) describesthat a sputtering target can be a source of indium contaminant generatedduring the film formation when the target shifts from a backing plate.

As for indium or tin, JP 08-292549 A (Patent Literature 4) describesthat examples of a material that is hardly etched even by dry etchingwith fluorine gas include ITO (indium tin oxide) as well as alumina andtin oxide, and the ITO can be used as an etching stopper.

The present inventors have repeatedly performed various examinations ona novel procedure for increasing the dry-etching rate of a film made ofa chromium-containing material while assuring design flexibility of thefilm. The present invention has completed by finding that achlorine-containing dry etching rate can be increased by addition of anelement into a chromium-containing film, where the element is capable ofbringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phaseat a temperature of 400° C. or lower.

As is evident from examples described later, when an element is added toa chromium-containing material film, where the element is capable ofbringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phaseat a temperature of 400° C. or lower, the etching rate duringchlorine-containing dry etching on the chromium-containing material filmincreases as compared with that of a chromium metal film (i.e., a cleartime is shorten). On the other hand, as is evident from comparativeexamples described later, when an element is added to achromium-containing material film, where the element is capable ofbringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phaseat a temperature of higher than 400° C., the etching rate duringchlorine-containing dry etching on the chromium-containing material filmdecreases as compared with that of a chromium metal film (i.e., a cleartime is extended). In some cases, it is no longer etched.

Examples of an element that is capable of bringing a mixture of theelement and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C.or lower can include indium (T_(L)=157° C.), tin (T_(L)=232° C.), andbismuth (T_(L)=271° C.), and also include thallium, lithium, sodium,potassium, and mercury. Here, the temperature (T_(L)) at which themixture is brought into a liquid phase is a value at ordinary pressure.

Examples of the element capable of bringing a mixture of the element andthe chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of higher than 400° C.can include nickel (T_(L)=487° C.) and copper (T_(L)=1077° C.).Furthermore, the temperature that allows the mixture with chromium toform a liquid phase can be determined from a phase diagram.

Under the chlorine-containing dry etching conditions, an element to beadded to a chromium-containing material film is more preferably onecapable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into aliquid phase at a temperature (T_(L)) of 250° C. or lower. In thepresent invention, furthermore, the lower limit of the temperature(T_(L)) at which the mixture is brought into a liquid phase is notparticularly limited. However, it is more preferable to set thetemperature (T_(L)) for causing a liquid phase to ordinary temperatureor higher, thereby making handling easier.

In particular, the boiling points of indium and tin are higher than themelting point of chromium, so that indium and tin are preferred in theviewpoint of ease of preparing an alloy target or a mixture target withchromium.

In other words, conventionally, film formation of a chromium-containingmaterial film is designed to avoid contamination of metal impurities inthe chromium-containing material film by using a high-purity chromiumtarget. On the other hand, in the present invention, based on thecompletely novel finding of the present inventors as described above, anelement capable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromiuminto a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower is consciouslyadded to a chromium-containing material film to increase achlorine-containing dry etching rate while keeping the opticalcharacteristics of the chromium-containing material film.

With respect to the reasons why such effects can be obtained, thepresent inventors recognize as follows:

When carrying out dry etching of a chromium-containing material film,plasma added with chlorine and oxygen as reactive gas is used. Such anetching reaction is generally a gas phase-solid phase reaction. However,the etching reaction is considered as a process where, in order toadvance this reaction, a gas element (gas substance) should be adsorbedon the surface of a solid at first and then the element of the solidexcited with the energy of plasma reacts with the adsorbed gassubstance.

If an extremely thin liquid gas phase is present on the surface of thesolid, the gas element is absorbed into the liquid phase. Substantially,therefore, the same behavior as that of an increase in amount ofadsorbed gas can be expected. In other words, the substance that forms aliquid phase by heating with plasma during the dry etching can beexpected to increase the dry-etching rate of the chromium-containingmaterial film.

Here, although the plasma temperature is extremely high, the densityitself is extremely low. Thus, only the extreme surface layer of thedry-etching target is heated. As a result, a temperature profile isconsidered to be formed such that temperature rapidly falls from thesurface of the dry-etching target to the depth thereof. Under such atemperature profile, a liquid phase formed on the surface of thedry-etching target is considered to become deeper (thicker) as theliquid-phase forming temperature lowers. That is, it is considered thatthe liquid phase is formed more deeply as the liquid-phase temperatureis lower, and then the reaction takes place efficiently.

In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, thecontent (concentration) of the element added is preferably 0.01 to 20atomic %, more preferably 0.5 to 20 atomic %. In particular, when theelement added is tin, the concentration range is preferably 0.5 to 20atomic %, more preferably 1 to 20 atomic %.

Furthermore, the above concentration range is not always necessary forthe entire chromium-containing material film. The chromium-containingmaterial film may have a region where the element is added in an amountwithin the above concentration range in the thickness direction of thechromium-containing material film. Furthermore, such a region in thethickness direction may have a thickness of 50% or more of the entirefilm thickness of the chromium-containing material film to increase theprecision of the patterning while the thickness of a resist during thedry etching can be decreased by improving the etching rate. Furthermore,in the chromium-containing material film, the content (concentration) ofthe above element added is preferably 0.01 to 30 atomic %, morepreferably 0.01 to 20 atomic % as a range with respect to chromium inthe chromium-based material film.

When the content (concentration) of the above element added in thechromium-containing material film is 0.01 to 20 atomic %, substantiallythe same chemical characteristics and optical characteristics as thoseof the chromium-containing material film (chromium-metal film) to whichthe above element is not added can be obtained. Thus, it becomespossible to increase the etching rate during the chlorine-containing dryetching while keeping substantially the same various characteristics asthose of the conventionally designed chromium-containing film.Furthermore, if the content (concentration) of the element added becomesless than 0.01 atomic %, expression of an effect of increasing theetching rate during the chlorine-containing dry etching may becomeinsufficient.

The element added does not need to be uniformly distributed in thechromium-containing material film, and it may have a profile having achange in concentration in the thickness (depth) direction of the film.Furthermore, the chromium-containing material film of the presentinvention does not need to be a uniform composition film, and it mayhave a structure in which a plurality of films having differentcompositions is stacked one on top of the other.

For example, it may be a composite film prepared by stacking achromium-containing material film containing the above element added inthe above concentration range and a chromium-containing material filmwithout containing the above element. In the chromium-containingmaterial film of such a laminated structure, for example, a lower layermay be a chromium-containing film added with an element capable ofbringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phaseat a temperature of 400° C. or lower, and an upper layer may be providedas a chromium-containing material film without containing such anelement. In this case, only the dry-etching rate of the lower layer canbe increased.

By applying such a configuration to a light-shielding film provided to aphoto mask blank, for example, another embodiment may be configured tomake the light-shielding film into a laminated structure including anantireflection layer and a light-shielding layer, and at least one ofthe antireflection layer and the light-shielding layer is designed tohave a region have a region to which an element is added at aconcentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20 atomic % relative to chromium, andthe element is capable of bringing a mixture of the element and thechromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower.

In the case that the element added is tin, for example, anotherembodiment may be configured such that a light-shielding film isprovided as a laminated structure of an antireflection layer and alight-shielding layer, and at least one of the antireflection layer andthe light-shielding layer has a region containing 0.5 atomic % or moreof tin.

The chromium-containing material film of the present invention may beconfigured in any of other various variations. A plurality ofchromium-containing films, where an element is added to thechromium-containing film and is capable of bringing a mixture of theelement and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C.or lower, may be stacked one on top of the other, and each of thechromium-containing material may include the above element in differentconcentrations, respectively.

The chromium-containing material film used in the photo mask blank ofthe present invention preferably has a larger ratio (R_(Cl)/R_(F)) of achlorine-containing dry etching rate (R_(Cl)) to a fluorine-containingdry etching rate (R_(F)) than that of a chromium-containing materialfilm without the addition of the above element by which a liquid phaseis formed at a temperature of 400° C. or lower.

For example, it is preferred that the above etching rate ratio(R_(Cl)/R_(F)) of the above etching is 11 or more. Here, the etchingrate ratio is expressed by the inverse number of a clear time at etchingunder each etching condition. Thus, the shorter the clear time is, thequicker (more) the etching rate is. The chromium-containing materialfilm having such etching characteristics allows itself to obtaincharacteristic features suitable for the use thereof as an etchingstopper film or an etching mask film (hard surface mask blank).

Although the chromium-containing material film of the present inventioncan be obtained by a publicly known method for film formation, the useof a sputtering method, such as a DC-sputtering method or aRF-sputtering method, the film having excellent homogeneity can beobtained in a most easy manner.

When carrying out the sputtering film-formation of thechromium-containing material film of the present invention, a target tobe used may be one containing an additive element in advance. However,co-sputtering may be carried out so that a chromium target and thetarget containing the element added can be simultaneously sputtered. Atarget used may be a single target (complex target) that includes achromium region and a region containing the element added. Furthermore,co-sputtering may be carried out using both the above complex target andthe chromium target. Furthermore, co-sputtering is preferable forchanging the concentration of the element added in the thicknessdirection of the chromium-containing material film.

When incorporating an additive element into the sputtering target, theadditive element may be added as a metal or may be added in the form ofa compound such as oxide or nitride.

In the case of carrying out co-sputtering using a plurality of targets,the amount (concentration) of an element to be added to thechromium-containing material film can be adjusted not only bycontrolling the surface area ratios of the respective targets but alsoby controlling electric power to be applied to each target.

The sputtering gas used in film formation of the chromium-containingmaterial film of the present invention is suitably selected according tothe composition of the film. For example, only argon gas may be usedwhen a chromium-containing material film does not contain a lightelement. In the case of film formation of a chromium-containing materialfilm containing a light element, reactive sputtering may be carried outin one or more kinds of reactive gas, such as nitrogen gas, nitrogenoxide gas, oxygen gas, carbon oxide gas, or hydrocarbon gas, or a gasmixture of any of those reactive gas and inert gas such as argon (see,for example, JP 07-140635 A (Patent Literature 5)).

A gas flow rate during sputtering is suitably adjusted. The flow ratemay be constant during film formation, or may be changed depending onthe desired composition when there is a need of changing the amount ofoxygen or the amount of nitrogen in the thickness direction of the film.

In the case of performing film formation using a single target (complextarget) that includes a chromium region and a region containing theelement added, the concentration of the element added may become unevenin the thickness direction of the chromium-containing material film. Insome cases, for example, when the element added is indium, theconcentration of indium in the chromium-containing material film maybecome more around the surface of the film but less in the inside of thefilm.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of results obtained byinvestigating distribution of indium in the chromium-containing materialobtained from a chromium-indium by using electron spectroscopy forchemical analysis. In this figure, the vertical axis represents thecomposition ratio of indium to chromium.

This chromium-containing material film has a film thickness of 10 nmwhen it is prepared by film formation using a chromium-indium complextarget. The concentration of indium in the inside of the film is 0.01 orless in terms of composition ratio. In contrast, however, theconcentration of indium in the surface region corresponding toapproximately ⅙ of the entire film thickness is significantly increased.

In the case of the sputtering film-formation of the chromium-containingmaterial film of the present invention, therefore, such tendency shouldbe taken into consideration when designing the film and setting theconditions for forming the film.

Conventionally, a chromium-containing material film has been used as alight-shielding film (Patent Literature 1 and 2), an etching mask film(Patent Literature 6: JP 2007-241060 A), an etching stopper film (PatentLiterature 7: JP 2007-241065 A), or the like, which is included in aphoto mask blank.

The use of the chromium-containing material film of the presentinvention as such a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, anetching stopper film, or the like allows the film to be provided with animproved dry etching rate while having the same characteristics as thoseof the conventional chromium-containing material film. For this reason,the patterning precision of the chromium-containing material film can beincreased without performing any design change specific to thechromium-containing material film.

When using a chromium-containing material film added with tin is used asa light-shielding film as described above, the content of tin may be 0.5atomic % or more with respect to the entire thickness of thelight-shielding film. Alternatively, another embodiment may beconfigured such that the light-shielding film is formed of a laminatedstructure of an antireflection layer and a light-shielding layer, andprovided as a film where only the antireflection layer has a tin contentof 0.5 atomic % or more, or only the light-shielding layer has as a filmhaving a tin content of 0.5 atomic % or more.

In order to allow the chromium-containing material film of the inventionto exert more remarkable effects, the content of tin is more preferably3 atomic % or more, still more preferably 5 atomic % or more. In thecase of tin, different from other additive elements, the upper limit ofthe content thereof is not essentially restricted. However, since thereis a possibility that optical characteristics or the like may besignificantly changed when tin is excessively included, the content oftin is preferably 30 atomic % or less. Unless otherwise specified, it ispreferred to set the content of tin to 20 atomic % or less as in thecase of other additive elements.

When using the chromium-containing material film of a the presentinvention as a light-shielding film provided in a photo mask blank, asin the case of the conventional chromium-containing material film, alight element such as oxygen or nitrogen, or further carbon or hydrogencan be suitably added if needed to keep desired optical functions andchemical functions.

As described above, examples of a chromium-containing material (basematerial), which can be used in the present invention, can include achromium oxide, a chromium nitride, a chromium carbide, a chromiumoxynitride, and a chromium oxide carbide, a chromium nitride carbide,and a chromium oxide nitride carbide as well as a chromium metal. Theabove element can be incorporated in any of these base materials.

In the case of using the chromium-containing material film of thepresent invention as an antireflection layer or a light shielding layer,when the chromium-containing material is chromium oxynitride, the sumtotal of the chromium and the above element added is preferably 30 to 95atomic %, particularly preferably 30 to 85 atomic %. Furthermore, thecontent of oxygen is preferably 0 to 60 atomic %, particularlypreferably 5 to 50 atomic %. Furthermore, the content of nitrogen ispreferably 0 to 30 atomic %, particularly preferably 3 to 30 atomic %.Here, the total content of oxygen and nitrogen is preferably 5 to 60atomic %. The inclusion of oxygen enhances an effect of increasing thedry etching rate.

In the case that the chromium-containing material is chromium oxidenitride carbide when the chromium-containing material film of thepresent invention is used as an antireflection layer, the sum total ofthe chromium and the above element added is preferably 30 to 95 atomic%, particularly preferably 30 to 85 atomic %. Furthermore, the contentof oxygen is preferably 0 to 60 atomic %, particularly preferably 5 to50 atomic %. Furthermore, the content of nitrogen is preferably 0 to 30atomic %, particularly preferably 3 to 30 atomic %. Furthermore, thecontent of carbon is preferably 1 to 30 atomic %. Here, the totalcontent of oxygen and nitrogen is preferably 5 to 60 atomic %.

In the case that the chromium-containing material is chromium oxidenitride carbide when the chromium-containing material film of thepresent invention is used as a light-shielding layer, The sum total ofthe chromium and the above additive element is preferably 20 to 95atomic %, particularly preferably 30 to 85 atomic %. Furthermore, thecontent of oxygen is preferably 0 to 60 atomic %, particularlypreferably 5 to 50 atomic %. Furthermore, the content of nitrogen ispreferably 0 to 30 atomic %, particularly preferably 3 to 30 atomic %.Furthermore, the content of carbon is preferably 1 to 30 atomic %. Here,the total content of oxygen and nitrogen is preferably 5 to 60 atomic %.

As a preferred chromium-containing material when the chromium-containingmaterial film of the present invention is used as a hard mask film formicrofabrication of a photo mask blank, a chromium compound containingchromium metal and also containing at least one or more light elementsselected from chromium, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon can be exemplified.Examples of such a chromium-containing material can include chromiumoxide, chromium nitride, chromium oxynitride, chromium oxide carbide,chromium nitride carbide, and chromium oxide nitride carbide.

Such a chromium-containing material has a sum total of chromium and theabove additive element of 50 atomic % or more, high resistance duringfluorine-containing dry etching, and sufficient etch selectivity to asilicon-containing material. More preferably, the sum total of chromiumand the above additive element is 60 atomic % or more.

In order to obtain high etch selectivity, the sum total of chromium andthe above additive element in the chromium-containing material ispreferably 50 atomic % or more and 100 atomic % or less, particularlypreferably 60 atomic % or more and 100 atomic % or less. In addition,the content of oxygen is preferably more than zero atom % and 50 atomic% or less, particularly preferably more than zero atomic % and 40 atomic% or less. Furthermore, the content of nitrogen is preferably more thanzero atomic % and 50 atomic % or less, particularly preferably more thanzero atomic % and 40 atomic %. Furthermore, the content of carbon ispreferably O atomic % or more and 20 atomic % or less, particularlypreferably O atomic % or more and 10 atomic % or less. Such contents ofthe respective elements can provide the chromium-containing materialwith sufficiently high etch selectivity when it is used as an etchingmask film.

In order to form a good resist pattern on the above chromium-containingmaterial film, it is preferred that oxygen and/or nitrogen be containedin amount of 5 atomic % or more.

Furthermore, when the above chromium-containing material film isemployed as an etching mask film formed on a photo mask blank used inproduction of a photo mask for forming a resist pattern of 50 nm orless, the film thickness is preferably 1 to 20 nm, particularlypreferably 1 to 10 nm.

When using the chromium-containing material film of the presentinvention as an etching stopper film of a photo mask blank, the samematerial as that of the etching mask film can be selected.

If the thickness of the etching stopper film of such a material is setto 1 to 30 nm, good etching mask effect can be obtained withoutgenerating a problem of pitch dependency in processing of an etchingmask film, and the etching precision of a film or a transparentsubstrate disposed below the etching mask film can be increased. If thethickness of an etching stopper film is set to 2 to 20 nm, a furtherpreferable etching mask effect can be obtained.

As in the case of the conventional chromium-containing material film,the chromium-containing material film of the present invention can besubjected to dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine gas. Thechromium-containing material film of the present invention showsdominantly a more etching rate under the same conditions as those of theconventional chromium-containing material film. The dry etching can becarried out, for example, using a gas mixture of chlorine gas and oxygengas at a mixture ratio (Cl₂ gas:O₂ gas) of 1:2 to 20:1 in terms ofvolumetric flow rate, and optionally mixed with inert gas such ashelium.

A photo mask having high patterning precision can be produced by usingthe photo mask blank of the present invention and patterning achromium-containing material film by a gas mixture containing at leastchlorine and oxygen.

EXAMPLES Example 1, Example 2, and Comparative Example 1

In the examples, film formation was performed on a square-shaped quartzsubstrate of 152 mm on a side and 6 mm in thickness by a DC sputteringmethod using a complex target having a chromium region and an indiumregion in a single target to obtain two different 10-nm thick CrN films(Cr:N=9:1) with the different concentrations of In (Example 1 andExample 2).

The content of indium in the CrN film was adjusted using two complextargets each having a different area ratio of the chromium region to theindium region in the target. Sputtering gas was a gas mixture of argongas and nitrogen gas.

For comparison, furthermore, a CrN film containing no In was also formedusing a Cr target (Comparative Example 1).

Two or more of each of the above three CrN film samples were produced.Analysis of the composition ratio of indium to chromium was determinedby a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry apparatus (TRIFTIII, manufactured by ULVAC-HI, Inc.)

Furthermore, an In-content distribution measurement in thefilm-thickness direction was carried out on another sample containingindium in high concentration by using ESCA (JPS-9000MC, manufactured byJEOL). Consequently, as described above, the segregation of In on thesurface and a profile in the depth direction of In were observed asillustrated in FIG. 1.

These samples were compared with one another with respect to thedry-etching rate (clear time) of the CrN film of 10 nm in filmthickness.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of adevice used for chlorine-containing dry etching in this case. In thefigure, reference numeral 1 denotes a chamber, 2 denotes a counterelectrode, 3 denotes a high frequency oscillator for inductively coupledplasma (ICP), 4 denotes an antenna coil, 5 denotes a sample, 6 denotes aflat electrode, 7 denotes a RIE high frequency oscillator, 8 denotes anexhaust opening, and 9 denotes a gas inlet. Furthermore, the deviceconfigured as shown in FIG. 2 can be also used for fluorine-containingdry etching.

Etching was carried out under the following conditions: The innerpressure of the chamber was set to 6 mTorr, Cl₂ (185 sccm), O₂ (55sccm), and He (9.25 sccm) were supplied as etching gas, a voltage of 700V (pulse) was applied to the RIE high frequency oscillator, and a powerof 400 W (continuous discharge) was supplied to the ICP-generation highfrequency oscillator.

Clear times of the respective samples of Example 1 and Example 2 whenchlorine-containing dry etching was carried out under the aboveconditions were obtained from reflectance measurements on the samplesand then compared with a clear time value of the sample of thecomparative example which was set to 1. In Table 1, the results of thecomparison are shown.

TABLE 1 In concentration (atomic %) Substrate surface Clear time SampleSurface side (Relative value) Example 1 0.24% 0.02% 0.88 Example 2 4.60%0.29% 0.86 Comparative 0.00% 0.00% 1 Example 1

As is evident from the above comparison results, any of the samples ofExample 1 and Example 2, which contain Indium in their CrN films, showsan increased etching rate during the chlorine-containing dry etching ascompared with the comparative example sample containing no In.

Example 3, Example 4, and Comparative Example 2

In the examples, film formation was performed on a square-shaped quartzsubstrate of 152 mm on a side and 6 mm in thickness by a DC sputteringmethod using co-sputtering with a chromium target and a tin target whichwere independently disposed to obtain two different 44-nm thick CrONfilms with different tin concentration (Example 3 and Example 4).

The content of tin in the CrON film was adjusted by adjusting theapplied power ratio between the chromium target and the tin target.Furthermore, sputtering gas was a gas mixture of argon gas with oxygengas and nitrogen gas at a ratio of argon gas:nitrogen gas:oxygengas=5:6:3.

For comparison, furthermore, a CrON film containing no Sn was alsoformed using a Cr target in a manner similar to the above description(Comparative Example 2). In Comparative Example 2, the composition ratioof Cr, O, and N was Cr:O: N=5:3;2. Furthermore, the sum totals of therespective composition ratios of Cr and Sn (atomic %) in ComparativeExample 2 and Examples 3 and 4 were almost the same.

Two or more of each of the above three samples of the inorganic materialfilms were produced. The composition analysis of the inorganic materialfilms was carried out using ESCA (JPS-9000MC, manufactured by JEOL).

Each of these samples was compared with the chlorine-containing dryetching rate (clear time) of an inorganic material film of 44 nm in filmthickness.

The configuration of a device used for the chlorine-containing dryetching was the same as Examples 1 and 2.

Etching was carried out under the following conditions: The innerpressure of the chamber was set to 6 mTorr, Cl₂ (185 sccm), O₂ (55sccm), and He (9.25 sccm) were supplied as etching gas, a voltage of 700V (pulse) was applied to the RIE high frequency oscillator, and a powerof 400 W (continuous discharge) was supplied to the ICP-generation highfrequency oscillator.

Clear times of the respective samples of Example 3 and Example 4 whenchlorine-containing dry etching was carried out under the aboveconditions were obtained from reflectance measurements on the samplesand then compared with a clear time value of the sample of ComparativeExample 2 which was set to 1. In Table 2, the results of the comparisonare shown.

TABLE 2 Sn content Clear time Sample (atomic %) (Relative value) Example3 7.7% 0.63 Example 4 4.5% 0.85 Comparative Example 2 0.0% 1

As is evident from the above comparison results, any of the samples ofExample 3 and Example 4, which contain tin in their CrON films, shows anincreased etching rate during the chlorine-containing dry etching ascompared with the comparative example sample containing no Sn.

These samples were compared with one another with respect to thedry-etching rate (clear time) of the CrON film of 44 nm in filmthickness.

Etching was carried out under the following conditions: The innerpressure of the chamber was set to 5 mTorr, SF₆ (18 sccm) and O₂ (45sccm) were supplied as etching gas, a voltage of 54 W (continuousdischarge) was applied to the RIE high frequency oscillator, and a powerof 325 W (continuous discharge) was supplied to the ICP-generation highfrequency oscillator.

Clear times of the respective samples of Example 1 and Example 2 whenfluorine-containing dry etching was carried out under the aboveconditions were obtained from reflectance measurements on the samples ofExamples 1 and 2. Then, the clear times of the respective samples werecompared with respect to the ratio (A_(T)=T_(F)/T_(CL)) of clear time(T_(F)) of the fluorine-containing dry etching to the clear time(T_(CL)) of the chlorine-containing dry-etching. The results of thecomparison are shown in Table 3.

The ratio of etching rate is inversely proportional to the ratio ofclear time. The ratio (A_(E)=R_(F)/R_(CL)) of the fluorine-containingdry-etching rate (R_(F)) to the chlorine-containing dry etching (R_(CL))is represented by the relational equation: A_(T)=1/A_(E).

TABLE 3 Sn content Clear time ratio Sample (atomic %) (T_(F)/T_(CL))Example 3 7.7% 13.6 Example 4 4.5% 11.1 Comparative Example 2 0.0% 10.3

As is evident from the above comparison results, any of the samples ofExample 3 and Example 4, which contain Indium in their CrON films, showsan increased ratio of the clear time of the fluorine-containing dryetching to the clear time of the chlorine-containing dry etching duringthe chlorine-containing dry etching as compared with the comparativeexample sample containing no Sn (Comparative Example 2). In other words,the difference between the chlorine-containing dry etching rate and thefluorine-containing dry etching rate becomes large, causing an increasein performance of the film as a hard mask.

As described above, the inorganic material film of the present inventioncontains tin in the chromium-containing material. Thus, the etching rateduring the chlorine-containing dry etching can be increased as comparedwith the conventional inorganic film containing no tin.

When using the inorganic material film of the present invention as sucha light-shielding film, an etching mask film, an etching stopper film,or the like, the film can be provided with an improved dry etching ratewhile having the same characteristics as those of the conventionalinorganic material film. As a result, the patterning precision of theinorganic material film can be increased without performing any designchange specific to the inorganic material film.

By carrying out chlorine-containing dry etching on the inorganicmaterial film using the photo mask blank provided with the inorganicmaterial film, it becomes possible to carry out fine patterning with adecreased damage on a photo resist. Therefore, it becomes possible toproduce a photo mask with high pattern accuracy.

Comparative Example 3, Comparative Example 4, and Comparative Example 5

In the comparative examples, in a manner similar to Example 3 andExample 4, film formation was performed on a square-shaped quartzsubstrate of 152 mm on a side and 6 mm in thickness by a DC sputteringmethod using co-sputtering with a chromium target and a tin target whichwere independently disposed to obtain a 44-nm thick CrON film containingNi, Zn, and Cu in amount of about 3 atomic %.

The contents of Ni, Zn, and Cu in the CrON film were adjusted byadjusting the applied power on the chromium target and Ni, Zn, and Cutargets. Sputtering gas was a gas mixture of argon gas, oxygen gas, andnitrogen gas.

Two or more of each of the above three samples of the inorganic materialfilms were produced. The composition analysis of the inorganic materialfilms was carried out using ESCA (JPS-9000MC, manufactured by JEOL).

Each of these samples was compared with the chlorine-containing dryetching rate (clear time) of an inorganic material film of 44 nm in filmthickness.

The configuration of a device used for the chlorine-containing dryetching was the same as the above examples.

Etching was carried out under the following conditions: The innerpressure of the chamber was set to 6 mTorr, C1₂ (185 sccm), O₂ (55sccm), and He (9.25 sccm) were supplied as etching gas, a voltage of 700V (pulse) was applied to the RIE high frequency oscillator, and a powerof 400 W (continuous discharge) was supplied to the ICP-generation highfrequency oscillator.

Clear times of the respective samples of Comparative Examples 3 to 5when chlorine-containing dry etching was carried out under the aboveconditions were obtained from reflectance measurements on the samplesand then compared with a clear time value of the sample of ComparativeExample 2 which was set to 1. In Table 4, the results of the comparisonare shown.

TABLE 4 Sample Element added Clear time Comparative Example 3 Ni notetched Comparative Example 4 Zn 4.2 Comparative Example 5 Cu not etched

As described above, in the chromium-containing material film of thepresent invention, an element is added thereto and is capable ofbringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phaseat a temperature of 400° C. or lower. Comparing with the conventionalchromium-containing metal film, therefore, an etching rate during thechlorine-containing dry etching simultaneously including chlorine andoxygen is improved.

By using such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film(e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etchingstopper film) of a photo mask blank, the patterning precision can beimproved while the optical characteristics and the like of theconventional chromium-containing material film can be kept as it is.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention provides a novel technique for increasing thedry-etching rate of a film made of a chromium-containing material whileassuring design flexibility of the film.

REFERENCE SINS LIST

-   1 Chamber-   2 Counter electrode-   3 High frequency oscillator for ICP generation-   4 Antenna coil-   5 Sample-   6 Flat electrode-   7 RIE high frequency oscillator-   8 Exhaust opening-   9 Gas inlet

1. A photo mask blank comprising a film comprising chromium and anotherelement, wherein the other element is capable of bringing a mixture ofthe other element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperatureof 400° C. or lower.
 2. The photo mask blank according to claim 1,wherein the film has a region in a thickness direction thereof in whichthe other element is present at a concentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20atomic %.
 3. The photo mask blank according to claim 2, wherein theregion in the thickness direction has a thickness of 50% or more of atotal film thickness of the film.
 4. The photo mask blank according toclaim 1, wherein the other element is indium or tin.
 5. The photo maskblank according to claim 1, wherein the chromium is present in the formof a chromium metal, a chromium oxide, a chromium nitride, a chromiumcarbide, a chromium oxynitride, a chromium oxycarbide, a chromiumcarbonitride, or a chromium oxycarbonitride.
 6. The photo mask blankaccording to claim 1, wherein the film is a light-shielding film, anetching mask film, or an etching stopper film.
 7. The photo mask blankaccording to claim 6, wherein the film is a light-shielding film havinga laminated structure comprising an antireflection layer and alight-shielding layer, and at least one of the antireflection layer andthe light-shielding layer has a region in which the other element ispresent at a concentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20 atomic % relative tochromium, and the other element is capable of bringing a mixture of theother element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of400° C. or lower.
 8. The photo mask blank according to claim 1, whereina ratio (R_(Cl)/R_(F)) of a chlorine dry etching rate (R_(Cl)) and afluorine dry etching rate (R_(F)) of the film is higher than that of achromium film free of the other element.
 9. The photo mask blankaccording to claim 1, wherein the film is formed by a process ofco-sputtering in which a chromium target and a target comprising theother element are simultaneously sputtered.
 10. A photo mask blankcomprising a film comprising chromium and tin, wherein the film has aregion in a thickness direction thereof comprising tin at aconcentration of 0.5 atomic % or more.
 11. The photo mask blankaccording to claim 10, wherein the film is a light-shielding layerhaving a laminated structure comprising an antireflection layer and alight-shielding layer, and at least one of the antireflection layer andthe light-shielding layer comprises tin.
 12. A method for manufacturinga photo mask, comprising patterning the photo mask blank of claim 1 bycontacting the film with a gas mixture comprising chlorine and oxygen.13. A film mainly comprising chromium, and further comprising anotherelement, wherein the other element is capable of bringing a mixture ofthe other element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperatureof 400° C. or lower.
 14. The film according to claim 13, having a regionin a thickness direction thereof in which the other element is presentat a concentration of 0.01 atomic % to 20 atomic %.
 15. The filmaccording to claim 14, wherein the region in the thickness direction hasa thickness of 50% or more of a total film thickness of the film. 16.The film according to claim 13, wherein the other element is indium ortin.
 17. The film according to claim 13, wherein the chromium is presentin the form of a chromium metal, a chromium oxide, a chromium nitride, achromium carbide, a chromium oxynitride, a chromium oxycarbide, achromium carbonitride, or a chromium oxycarbonitride.
 18. A method formanufacturing a photo mask, comprising patterning the photo mask blankof claim 10 by contacting the film with a gas mixture comprisingchlorine and oxygen.
 19. The photo mask blank according to claim 1,wherein the other element is indium.
 20. The photo mask blank accordingto claim 1, wherein the other element is tin.